The Duc Ba Church – Notre Dame Cathedral Saigon, Vietnam

In August 1876, there was a design contest for a new coming church in Saigon and finally, the design of J.Bourard with Roman & Gothic style was chosen among 17 other designs. The church was built from October 1877 to April 1880 (nearly 3 years) and from that moment, the Duc Ba church is always one of the oldest and most beautiful church in Vietnam.

Take a look at Duc Ba church video:

In 1896, the two big towers were built in at 57.6m height with 6 big copper bells inside, at the top of each tower, the huge cross was placed with the size of 2 metres wide, 3.5 metres height and 600 kg weight.

The tallest point of Duc Ba church was 60.5 meters. The church’s length was 93 meters, the biggest wide point was 35 meters and the roof was 21 meters height.An old photos of Duc Ba church in 1900s when there was no Lady of Peace statue yet in the front.In 1956, the Lady of Peace status was put in the front of the church and from that time until now, the church name was called Duc Ba (Lady) church. The status was 4.6 meters tall, 6 tons in weight and was made of white granite in Italy by G. Ciocchetti (an Italian sculptor)It took about 2,500,000 franc and 3 years to built the church. The bricks on the outside were made in France and used their own original colors. After 140 years, they are mostly still in very good condition.There was no fence around the church, all sides connected directly to main streets.The beauty inside the church with two rows of 6 columns each sides. The 12 columns represent to 12 disciples of Jesus Christ.The elegant white dome-shape roof of Duc Ba church is 21 meters tall.There are 56 color mirror windows on the walls inside Duc Ba church, each window shows a story from history of Catholic.After 120 years, the 6 bells inside two towers remain in good condition. Each bell would perform a key major note (Sol-G, La-A, Si-H, Do-C, Re-D, Mi-E). The total weight of 6 bells was about 29 tons.The Duc Ba church beauty at night surrounds by people.

Now, you know why I have to put the Duc Ba church – Notre Dame Cathedral Saigon on the list of the bright sides of Vietnam. If you have a chance to visit Ho Chi Minh city in future, you can’t miss the Lady of Peace church in Saigon. Believe me, you won’t regret, my friends 🙂

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